You have a right to remain silent, exercise it.

At our Jacksonville Criminal Law Firm, many of our cases begin with our client talking to the police. Some criminal clients invoke their right to remain silent, but a majority do talk to the police and try to explain their side of the story. Talking to the police is almost always a detriment to a criminal suspect. The police wear handcuffs for a reason. Their job is to put you in jail.

Recently, there was a suspect shot by police at the Wendy’s on Baymeadows Road. Police shot 42 times in a carjacked car that had 3 innocents in it as well as the suspect. Two of the innocents, one child, are in the hospital with gunshot wounds at the hands of these police officers. Baymeadows Road was shut down for around 8 hours so an investigation could be conducted. Not an investigation about the carjacking, the suspect was dead. Law enforcement was supposed to be investigating the police shooting.

Today is 6 days after the incident and the police officers who shot into the car still have not given a formal statement about what happened. They “lawyered up”. They will not talk to any law enforcement agency without discussing the case in detail with their union attorney.

When police interrogate civilian suspects, they almost always tell them to simply tell the truth. “If you don’t have anything to hide, why wouldn’t you talk to us?” is the line that is commonly used by police. If this is true, why don’t the police officers involved in a police shooting simply “tell the truth”.